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Unit 13: Acts Related to Library Legislation

Another aspect of this originality test refers to the composition of the creation. Consider for Notes
example the case of an anthology, consisting of a compilation of works (for example poems)
written by others than the author of the anthology. Should one consider that protection is not
being extended to the anthology, bearing in mind that none of the poems contained therein are
written by the anthology’s “author”? The latter’s contribution consists mainly in collecting or
compiling the material (poems) published in the anthology. In this situation, the anthology
may be protected as such, to the extent that there is originality with respect to the selection and
arrangement of its contents. The originality, if there is any, would relate in this situation to “the
work that has been involved in bringing together diverse works (poems) following a determined
plan, according to a more or less ingenious grouping”.

A Protection can extend only to Expression but not to Ideas (Negative Condition)

The second requirement of copyright ability is that the work is an ‘expression’ of, rather than an
‘idea’ as such. As with facts, similarly with ideas: they are there as common properties, available
freely in the public domain. Copyright does not extend to ideas, but only to the expression of
thoughts. For example the idea of taking a picture of a sunset is not protected by copyright.
Therefore, anyone may take such a picture. But a particular picture of a sunset taken by a
photographer may be protected by copyright. In such a case, if someone else makes copies of the
photograph, and starts selling them without the consent of the photographer, that person would
be violating the photographer’s rights.

Other Conditions

In some countries, works are excluded from protection if they are not fixed in tangible form; for
example, a work of choreography would be protected once the movements were written down
in dance notation or recorded on videotape. In many other countries though, a work is protected
even though it is not fixed in any material form. The Berne Convention leaves this matter opens
to the member countries (see Article 2 (5)). In order to know whether fixation is required as a
condition for protection in a particular country, it is advisable to read the national copyright
legislation of that country.

Which Works are Protected?

The subject-matter of copyright protection includes every production in the literary, scientific
and artistic domain, whatever the mode or form of expression.

The expressions “literary” and “artistic” might indicate that only works which have literary or
artistic merit will be protected. But this is not the case as protection is independent of the quality
or the value attaching to the work. The latter will be protected whether it is considered, according
to taste, a good or a bad literary or musical work or a beautiful or ugly painting. It is not
necessary, to qualify for copyright protection, that works should pass a test of imaginativeness,
of inventiveness. The work is protected even when it has little in common with literature, art or
science. Courts have thus extended protection to business letters, contract forms, examination
papers, a weight loss program, railway timetables, purely technical guides, engineering drawings,
or maps.
Exceptions to the general rule are made in copyright laws by specific enumeration; thus laws
and official decisions or mere news of the day is generally excluded from copyright protection.
It is to be noted that in some other countries such official texts are not excluded from copyright
protection; the government is the owner of copyright in such works, and exercises those rights
in accordance with the public interest.

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